The Key to Saving CIA Season 2 Is Surprisingly Simple

More often than not, TV shows need a lot of work to become high-quality performers, but fortunately, CIA Season 2 doesn’t.

However, its success comes down to fixing the one problem the first season had, and it’s already addressed part of it.

Of course, after CIA Season 1, the real question is whether viewers will give the series the benefit of the doubt and tune in to the sophomore season.

CIA Season 1 Suffered Due to Behind-the-Scene Changes

Unfortunately, the FBI spinoff struggled behind the scenes from the start.

This was supposed to be a series that had a backdoor pilot during FBI Season 7, and that pilot was supposed to air a few episodes before the end of the season.

Then it got pushed back by a few episodes, and then eventually, there wasn’t a backdoor pilot at all.

Instead, viewers were left with just teasers of what was to come, as finally, Tom Ellis signed on as the lead.

The troubles didn’t stop there, though, as the series was quietly pulled from the fall schedule and moved to the midseason, and then one showrunner left, and then another.

It was easy to worry about the future of the series. Would all the exiting showrunners and actors lead to a series that just couldn’t go ahead?

What it did lead to was inconsistency. It was hard to connect with the characters on a personal level, as some of their home storylines seemed completely forgotten.

At times, the characters made dumb mistakes they shouldn’t have, given what we had been told about them, and it felt like the mole storyline had been completely overlooked for most of the season.

Usually, with an overarching plot like Nick Gehlfuss‘ Bill Goodman had, we would see some efforts to sneak a look at computers or sly attempts to catch someone in a lie.

CIA’s Lack of Consistency Affected Quality

While we got one moment of him putting a tracker on Nikki’s ex’s car, Bill didn’t do much to help the FBI identify the mole in the Fusion Cell.

There could even have been some humor in the attempts, considering the CIA is full of spies trained to look out for the tricks Bill would have tried.

It was only during the final three episodes that things with the mole really picked up, starting with the most obvious red herring: Colin being the mole because of his relationship with Sarah.

The lack of consistency and quality didn’t just involve the overarching storyline, either. There were moments within individual episodes.

Cases such as the one during CIA Season 1 Episode 6, which involved indoctrination, only scratched the surface of the topic instead of going into how someone’s ideologies could be changed and affected going forward.

Part of that problem will have come down to the time available in an episode, but it could also have been due to those who initially came up with the plot no longer being there to see the whole hour through.

CIA Season 2 Has the Opportunity to Fix the Flaws

All it will take for the series to be stronger is consistency, and CIA Season 2 already offers hope in that.

So far, there have been no reports of a change of showrunner or a massive change to the cast.

With everything behind the scenes more focused, the writing team can find a cohesive plan.

Mike Weiss didn’t have it easy during the first season. He came in after David Hudgins and Warren Leight left, leaving him with some storylines that had already been started.

It’s hard to say if he would have opted for the mole arc in the first place, but by the time he gained the reins, he had to run with it. It’s not easy to take someone else’s ideas and make them work.

At least for CIA Season 2, he’ll get a say in the bigger overarching storyline, and he can steer the ship from the start.

With this, there can also be some consistency with the individual characters and their development.

We know that Bill has a fiancée, but she’s only been seen once.

While Bill is supposed to be uncomfortable lying, there’s been no sign that he struggles with it yet, given his lack of personal development.

CIA Can Course-Correct from the Start in Season 2

By putting Bill and Katie together on screen more, there will be a chance to show what the secrets he’ll need to keep do to him.

To tease the idea that Nikki had been the mole at one point, she told Ginashe had never been to Tehran. Yet Gina was sure Nikki had been stationed there once.

So, which one is it?

Little inconsistencies like this in the storytelling are things that the second season could rectify by having one person steer the ship.

CIA isn’t a terrible show, but it is erratic, and by fixing that, we could have another fun and thrilling procedural.

TV Fanatic doesn’t run on corporate dollars — it runs on readers like you.
If you liked this, leave a comment or share it. That’s the secret sauce. Plus, we just love chatting about our favorite shows, so we’d love to hear more about what you loved and didn’t love about CIA.